Box Score

West Springfield, Mass. - Josh Kassel posted his second straight shutout as the Army Black Knights downed the American International College ice hockey squad 4-0 in an Atlantic Hockey showdown Saturday afternoon at the Olympia Ice Center in West Springfield, Mass. Army moves to 14-12-4 overall and 14-7-2 in the AHA. The Yellow Jackets drop to 8-18-4 overall and 8-14-2 in the conference.

AIC entered the weekend after having won back-to-back contests against Bentley, scoring 11 times in two games, but were cooled off by Kassel who hasn't given up a score in over eight periods. For the Yellow Jackets, it marks the first time they were blanked by the same team on consecutive nights since dropping a pair to Wayne State in the 2000-2001 season.

For the second consecutive evening neither team posted a score in the first period. In the second, Army opened up a 3-0 lead. Luke Flicek got things started for the Black Knights grabbing the puck off of a rebound and pushing it home at the 6:53 marker. Zach McKelvie made the game 2-0 in favor of Army, scoring nearly the same way Flicek did, by pushing across a score after a flurry of shots left a rebound in front of the net. McKelvie's goal was on the power-play. Finally, Owen Meyer raced across the blue-line, stole the puck from the defense, and flipped home a score on a breakaway giving Army a three goal lead heading into the final stanza.

Army added on more score in the final frame when Joey Ammon notched his fifth goal of the year a little under half way through the period.

Freshman goalie Dan Ramirez (Rochester, N.Y.) turned back 26 shots for AIC while Kassel made 24 saves in net for the Black Knights.

Despite the 4-0 score, the shots on goal were fairly even with Army holding a 30-24 edge.

The Yellow Jackets will face UConn in a home-in-home series next weekend. Friday night's game is in Storrs, Connecticut. The teams will conclude the match-up Saturday night in West Springfield